Ralph Hasenhuttl has been very vocal about his displeasure at playing against Newcastle United two months after the initial date of the game. The game was due to be played in the New Year’s Day set of fixtures but was postponed due to the Magpies not having enough players to fulfil the fixture.
The Southampton boss was not happy at the time that the game was due to be moved in the knowledge that Eddie Howe would have the benefit of new recruits for the rearranged date. That is, of course, the case and the question was put to the Austrian in his pre-match press conference.
Despite initially responding ‘it’s not on me to talk about this’, Hasenhuttl couldn’t help himself but complain about the decision made by the Premier League. "Strange now to concentrate on a game what you should've played two months ago against a completely different team,” the Saints manager told the media.
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“But it is how it is. It is how things are changing, but this doesn’t affect us, definitely not. We are also better than we were two months ago and we are ready for the challenge. We spoke about that there is the chance in the transfer window to change their team completely and I think they did. This was expected.
“No matter with what players are coming here we are looking forward to playing at our home ground, with our crowd behind us. We have a good atmosphere at our stadium, a good run there and we are going there with the belief and sure that we can show a reaction.”
As Hassenhuttl mentioned, his side have also benefitted from the rearrangement as they are in a much stronger position now than they were at the turn of the year. Had the game been played on its original date, Southampton would have gone into the game with just one win in their last eight games.
Whereas now, they are in much better form having won five of their last seven in all competitions. Although, they were taken apart last time out as Phillipe Coutinho ran the show in Aston Villa’s 4-0 win against Hassenhuttl’s men at Villa Park on Saturday.
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